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As many Japanese elementary school kids want to be VTubers as schoolteachers in survey

Casey Baseel Jan 30, 2025
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VTuber passes YouTuber on list of jobs kids say they want to do when they grow up.

In recent years, whenever there’s a survey asking kids in Japan what they want to be when they grow up, “YouTuber” is often near the top of the list. It’s an answer that often has more than a few adults grinding their teeth in frustration, either because they don’t see it as a viable profession or because they think it’d be better for society, and the kids’ futures too, for them to be setting their sights on something more academically ambitious.

Nonetheless, YouTuber remains a popular choice when kids are questioned about what sort of job they want to have one day. In the results of a newly released survey, though, YouTuber has been surpassed by something that’s likely to sit even less well with traditionalists: VTuber.

VTubers can accurately be called a subset of YouTubers, but not all YouTubers are VTubers. The key difference is that instead of appearing on camera themselves, VTubers/virtual YouTubers provide the voice and mannerisms for a CG-generated anime-style avatar, with motion-tracking employed to create the character’s movements which mirror those of the unseen-by-the-audience human performer.

The survey in question was carried out by children’s online portal Nifty Kids, and collected 2,313 responses, 69.1 percent of which were from children in elementary school (which lasts from the first to sixth grade in Japan) and 28 percent from middle school students (seventh through ninth grade). 93.9 percent of the total respondent pool said that there’s a job they want to do when they grow up, and while school teacher was the top response, VTuber was the number-four pick, two slots above YouTuber and three above doctor.

● What job do you want to have in the future?

Schoolteacher (6.5 percent)

Illustrator (5.8 percent)

Utaite (5.2 percent)

VTuber (4.6 percent)

Actor/actress/model (4.3 percent)

YouTuber (3.5 percent)

Doctor (3.5 percent)

Idol (3.5 percent)

Musician (3.4 percent)
10 (tie). Preschool/kindergarten teacher (3.2 percent)
10 (tie). Civil servant (3.2 percent)

VTuber and YouTuber aren’t the only new-fangled Internet-related jobs on the list either. Coming in at number three was utaite, which translates literally as “singer” but refers specifically to independent singers who record vocal covers of preexisting songs and post them online. However, because utaite are generally working with copyrighted songs that they don’t own the rights to, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for them to directly convert any online popularity they achieve for their covers into monetary gains, so you could make an argument that VTuber was really the survey’s third-most-popular pick for an actual “job.”

Nifty’s data doesn’t delve into why respondents who picked VTuber did so over YouTuber, but it may have something to do with differences in production and content between the two classes of performers. Because VTuber characters don’t exist in the physical world (character art panel events notwithstanding), their videos don’t often involve traveling to remote locations, physical exertion, interacting with other on-camera talent, or many of the other logistical tasks and other hassles of being a YouTuber. Instead, VTuber videos tend to skew more towards hobby-related monologues, video game streaming, and personal opinion proclamations, all with your privacy and personal appearance shielded by an avatar who’ll never have so much as a single hair unintentionally out of place. From an outsider’s perspective, being a VTuber most likely looks like getting paid just to hang out and be yourself, without having to actually be on camera, which also most probably sounds like an easier, sweeter deal than being a YouTuber.

▼ “What’s up, guys? I came all the way out here to Ponyland to find out which of these horses’ butts makes the smelliest farts,” is something VTubers probably won’t ever have to say.

Zooming in on just the responses from elementary school kids, VTuber was an even more popular choice, tying with schoolteacher for third place.

● What job do you want to have in the future? (elementary school children’s responses)

Illustrator (6.7 percent)

Utaite (5.6 percent)
3 (tie). Schoolteacher (5.4 percent)
3 (tie). VTuber (5.4 percent)

YouTuber (4.4 percent)

On the other hand, VTuber was picked by a far smaller proportion of the survey’s middle school kids, only squeezing into a three-way tie for number 10 with doctor and psychological counselor at 2.6 percent. Overall, middle school respondents tended to more grounded with their top picks.

● What job do you want to have in the future? (middle school children’s responses)

Schoolteacher (9.5 percent)

Pharmacist (6.4 percent)
3 Civil servant (5.3 percent)

Musician (4.8 percent)

Voice actor/actress (4.3 percent)

A few other data points are worth taking into consideration too, such as that the overwhelming majority of the respondents, 81 percent, were girls, with another 12 percent leaving the survey’s optional question about gender unanswered. While there are both male and female VTubers, female VTubers tend to make up a larger chunk of the most successful and prominent characters, and so the idea of stepping into the role might be something with greater allure to girls than boys. That could also explain why professional athlete, which often places highly in such surveys, was 18th in the all-respondent rankings, at only 2.1 percent, as men’ s professional sports leagues are much more well-known and prosperous than women’s in Japan.

Finally, the VTuber penchant present in the survey might not necessarily mean all of those kids are actually going to be trying to make a living in that field. As mentioned above, overall 93.9 percent of the respondents said they have a job they want to do in the future. However, while just 4.6 percent of elementary school respondents said they don’t know what they want to be when they grow up, 10.2 percent of middle school students said they’re undecided. That could be a sign that a lot of the younger children saying they want to become VTubers don’t yet understand all that’s entailed in picking and pursuing a specific career, and that they’ll be less rigidly focused and better able to see the broader range of possibilities when they’re just a little older, after which they can start narrowing down their options with a more mature outlook regarding a more complete image of prospective professions.

Source: Nifty Kids via Yutara via Jin
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